Date: Fri 09-Apr-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: SARAH

Quick Words:

Playing-EDtv-McConaughey

Full Text:

NOW PLAYING: `EDtv' Is Both Sly And Infantile

By Trey Paul Alexander III

"I think, therefore I am." Rene Descartes' famous meditation on existence

holds little sway over the media-obsessed characters in Ron Howard's satire,

EDtv , whose mantra might be, "If I'm on TV, then I am (somebody)!" Midway

through the movie, it is opined, "We used to think people were famous because

they were special. Now people are considered special just because they're

famous." It's the central theme around which the movie spins most of its

ideas.

In Howard's latest, now playing in theatres, a humble everyman, Ed (Matt

McConaughey), is picked to star in his own TV show, and his life, broadcast on

basic cable 24 hours a day, becomes fodder for the hungry masses. Ed, a lowly

video store clerk in San Francisco, jumps into this well-paying gig for the

chance to realize his dreams -- and those of his family, including boorish but

opportunistic big brother Ray (Woody Harrelson) -- but is unaware of the

soon-to-be-discovered pitfalls of fame and what it will do to him and those

around him.

All right, let's cut to the chase. EDtv sounds a lot like last summer's hit,

The Truman Show : good-natured guy becomes the center of cultural attention

when his televised life holds the viewing public enraptured. There's little

shock that Peter Weir's The Truman Show is the better film, but the pleasant

surprise is the screenwriters' (Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, who previously

collaborated with Howard on Splash and Parenthood ) different take on the

concept. Whereas Weir's film had a hero who was unaware of his televised,

false and fixed environment, EDtv boasts a protagonist who is well aware of

the cameras that shadow his every move, and, thanks to talk show hosts, USA

Today and next-door neighbors, becomes quite conscious of the impact of his

show and what others think of it and his life.

EDtv then explores Ed and his family's increasingly dysfunctional

relationships. Ed and his brother grow distant when Ray is caught on TV being

unfaithful to his fiancee (Jenna Elfman), and Ed, trying to reunite them, ends

up wooing her. Ed also uncovers some hidden truths about his mother's (Sally

Kirkland) relationship with his estranged father and his stepfather, Al

(Martin Landau). As the movie progresses, it appears safe to say that the

bright lights of the camera, if left on anyone too long, will expose flaws,

failings and dysfunction that are present in everyone's life.

Howard, long acknowledged as a "sentimental" director, proves to live up (or

down, depending on your point of view) to his reputation here. His light,

cheery take proves infectious to his eclectic cast (including McConaughey,

Harrelson, Elfman, Ellen DeGeneres, and Landau), who are as winning as they've

ever been, but among the themes on which he touches, he fails to truly examine

how Ed's show is not capturing the "True TV" to which it aspires. The irony of

"real TV" is that once aware one's on TV, the less real/genuine that person

and their actions (and those of the people around them) become.

Think of what happens when someone whips out a video camera at a family

reunion. What does everyone do? They either hide from it, groan about it, wave

at it, or mug to it. But nobody acts like it's not there. No one acts unaware

of its presence. The simple knowledge that one's actions are being recorded

influence the type of actions that are taken. EDtv seems to acknowledge this

early, but doesn't follow up on the implications.

Nevertheless, EDtv , rated PG-13 for sex-related situations, partial nudity

and crude language, proves fairly engaging entertainment. Yet, as slyly clever

as Howard's film contends to be, it also can be just as infantilely puerile,

as attested to by the incessant guffaws of two middle schoolers who laughed

vociferously during my viewing of the movie.